If the damage was cosmetic only, I'd let it go. However, several thousand in damage sounds like there was more damage. Was there? If so and I was in your son's position, I'd have to have the neighbor pay for the damages. It's just one of those things were there is no good answer, but the neighbor who caused the damage should understand. Hope it all works out to be okay.

The neighbor needs to turn it in on his insurance. He's liable for it.

Could you tell us a little more? Like, what is the value of the car? At 20 yrs old, is it worth several thousand dollars in repairs? If he's just carrying liability, its making me wonder if it makes sense to put money into it to make it drivable, I see very few 20 yr old cars for sale for several thousand.

The neighbor's homeowner's insurance should cover it.

What do you think the plowing is worth? I'm pretty sure if you turn in a claim the whole neighborly atmosphere will be gone and so will the good will plowing....

morz8, has a point....a twenty year old car that was given as a gift.....

You ask, "What would I do"....give them another gift?

There is no question the damage if not exceeding the blue book value, is probably close to the value but DS has been in love with this car for years and years and had planned on holding on to it for it's eventual classic value. It is a 1995 Buick Riviera. Buick discontinued making the car in 1999. It is considered to have one of the best engines Buick ever made and it has less than 100,000 miles on it. It was one of there best body designs. I, myself am not a car person but must admit, I always loved this car because it was so sharp looking. Every time DS came to visit us he would spend several hours detailing it. If it had been sitting out front of the house and neighbor was backing out of driveway and hit it without the doing a good deed involved, it would be an easy call. The neighbor is fully aware that while yes it was an accident, it was his fault. What makes it so difficult is the fact that it happened while doing a good deed.

If it happened at his girlfriend's maybe her home owners insurance could cover it? Just a thought - not sure that is even possible though.

He's been plowing the driveway for years....that's worth a lot of $. Worth even more is the goodwill & neighborliness. It is really a tough call, but I lean towards sucking it up. But by the same token if I were the plowman, I would feel obligated to pay for the damage, either my insurance or out of pocket.

Can you cover the cost? Good neighbors are few and far between. I am sure if the girlfriend had an emergency this same neighbor would help in the blink of an eye.

Your son and girlfriend could explain their financial situation and ask if the insurance policy could help cover some of the cost. But, they need to be very diplomatic.

If the guy has no money to pay for the damage he did, there is not a lot you can do. Maybe they would pay half for a replacement car. If not consider the circumstances and just accept the loss and tell them not to plow the snow anymore. I know the car was his transportation, but that is what happens when you aren't fully covered.

I had a gardener who backed into my garage door and it had to be replace. He was so upset about it, I thought he would cry, because he barely earned a living. I suggested he pay half in payments and he was very relieved.

I think I would split the cost, if the neighbor offered. If the neighbor doesn't offer anything, I would let it go. I'm sure the years of plowing have more than made up for the costs of the repairs.

Yes, it was the neighbor's fault for the action itself but he was doing a service/good deed. I also feel that your son is partially at fault for only having liability insurance. That's the risk you take for lower premiums because not everyone who causes damage can or will pay. He should probably look into upping his insurance if that particular car is so valuable to him.

Hopefully they can work it out. Good neighbors are hard to find.

Is the damage cosmetic or can the car not be driven? If it's cosmetic, I'd think about letting it go. If not, I'd talk to the neighbor about submitting an insurance claim.

My neighbor backed into my car a couple of years ago and crushed my quarter panel. The neighbor felt terrible about it and gave us his insurance info. When the adjuster came, he said that if my car had another 10k miles on it, they would have totaled it out.

What was the neighbor's reaction when it happened? Did they tell you what happened or did you discover the damage? It could be possible that the neighbor is looking into submitting it to their insurance, but haven't gotten the details yet.

I really wasn't very clear. My son and his girlfriend are the ones scraping to get by. The neighbors both have very good jobs and the neighbor has insurance on his car and could very easily put in a claim. The problem my son is having is that he knows the minute you put a claim in, your insurance rates go up. The neighbors wife called and said to get an estimate and let them see the estimate and then they will decide wether or not to put in a claim or just pay it out of their pocket. My son feels bad because the neighbor was just being a good guy and he knows how important good neighbors are. On the other hand, he really cannot afford to pay for it himself.

That's a dilemma, for sure. But remember: Regardless of the repair estimate, he will never get more than "blue book value" for the car. Doesn't matter if insurance pays or he takes them to court. That's his limit. If unable to be fixed for bluebook value, it will be declared "totaled" and he will get that amount. If the car is still drivable...just cosmetic damage... you might negotiate with the insurance company to see if you can buy it back cheaply if they total it.

The KBB on that make/model/year isn't very high. I don't know the conditions/miles but I'm pretty sure the insurance won't cover the costs of repairs if it's several thousand. They'll just total it and haul it away and pay your son the KBB value. Just something to consider.

Since the cost to repair the car is probably going to be more than it's worth, I would factor that in if the neighbors decide to go out of pocket. I don't think it would be right for them to pay more than the car is worth just because your son wants to keep it. An auto shop is going to tell you what it costs to fix the car and they aren't going to factor in value like insurance will.

This is a simple Golden Rule case to me, unless I'm missing something. The girlfriend's neighbor has more than earned the right to hear her say "don't bother, I want to be as good a neighbor to you as you've been to me".

It shouldn't be that they were willing to repeatedly allow the neighbor to plow for free, but not willing to assume any damage that resulted from the operation of the plow. It doesn't snow where i live, but even I know that plows can regularly run into or over things that are obscured by the snow. i understand that an old car worth only a few thousand dollars can be of priceless value to someone who can't afford to replace it, but that's not how damages work.

That's a good point from Snidely, and it made me reconsider my stance. Plowing is often damaging given the nature of it, and they should have realized that this might happen one day. Not only because snow covers things, but ice is slippery and a truck with a plow that slips on ice on the driveway could do a lot of property damage.

They had the option to do it themselves but instead let the neighbor do it. That's why it's recommended to only hire professionals with full licensing and insurance to do things around the house and property so when something like this happens, there's no question on who is responsible.
If I hired my neighbor kid to cut my lawn, I wouldn't expect him to pay if he ran over a sprinkler like I would a professional lawn service who did the same thing.

I don't think the neighbors should have to pay, and if your son can't afford to fix the car, then it shouldn't get fixed. He had a choice to get insurance that would cover other people damaging his property and he chose not to. There are consequences to those types of decisions. He gave a guy with a plow permission to go on the property and engage in a potentially dangerous and damaging activity knowing his car on the same property wasn't insured against damage.

It sounds like the neighbors are really nice to want to cover it. I think if I were them, I would cover it as well but I would still hold a grudge and not offer to do anything nice again.

Yet a different opinion......if I were the plowing neighbor, I would feel horrible and responsible if I caused damage to the neighbor's car. No matter how long I've been plowing for free.

I'd not take no for an answer regarding having the car fixed. And since they offered to pay, and are expecting to.....I'd hold them to it. But your daughter should do all in her power to reciprocate in a neighborly manner.....baked goods, pots of soup, etc.

If there seems to be bad feelings about it, then I think that your son needs to take responsibility into his own hands rather than jeopardize the good will of the neighbor.

And perhaps your son and his girlfriend need to get busy with snow shovels. It's good exercise, as I recall. ;-)

It sounds to me like the problem has already been worked out. I understand not wanting to make a claim and have insurance go up but it may cost too much to just pay for damages out of pocket. That is what we have insurance for! If he does plowing for a living then he should carry insurance for that.

I agree with arkansas_girl. The problem has been solved. Neighbor suggested to get an estimate and give it to them. Yes, they are very good neighbors in my opinion. Btw how old is your son?

Unfortuneately your son chose not to fully insure his vehicle for events such as this. It's a risk he took. I have a 14 year old vehicle, not worth much money but we keep it fully covered in the event something happens, atleast we'd have a nice downstroke on the next vehicle. Another thing to consider, your neighbor may not be covered for plowing under his personal vehicle insurance. Hopefully the parties involved can figure out something that won't affect their relationship.

With a car that age, the cost to repair the damage may well exceed the value of the car. In that case, if the neighbor files a claim to his insurance, they will only pay out book value. That has happened to both DH and me. Have you or your son checked the value of the car?

The neighbor has asked for an estimate. If the estimate exceeds book value, even if he's willing to pay, I would not let him pay more than that. I understand that your son has a sentimental attachment to the car and that he needs it. I know that your son thinks that the car would eventually have value as a classic car, but that is probably not the case.

I agree with chi83 and Snidely. If I was the neighbor I'd feel really bad about it. But I'd feel really bad as the recipient of the plowing to ask him to pay for an accident after all the free work that he's done. To expect him now to pay for damages seems to be really taking advantage of him. I have no idea how much that type work is worth, but you say he's been plowing the driveway for many years. I would expect that in terms of both $ and convenience that the neighbor has saved your son and his girlfriend quite a bit of money. Your son needs to understand that if the neighbor pays for the damages, he likely won't be plowing the driveway again, which means they'll have to do it themselves or hire someone else. Is the small value of this car worth ruining the goodwill of the neighbors?

There is no way I could have the neighbor pay for your son's car. He sounds like a wonderful neighbor and for him to offer was so the "right" thing to do, but I couldn't with a good conscience let him pay after all these years plowing for him-it was an accident and if any way possible I would fix it myself or suck it up. Too bad this happened.

I feel like I'm misunderstanding something. Why would having the neighbor take care of the damage ruin their relationship with the neighbor? Yes, the neighbor was doing something nice, but caused property damage in the process. The way I see it, if someone damages my property, they need to make it right.

Well, it's not really a black and white situation though. If a drunk driver had lost control and hit his car, then that would be one thing. But in this situation, the neighbor was given permission to do a potentially dangerous good deed on their property to save themselves the effort. They could have said no and shoveled themselves. They could have spent the money to hire out a professional. But they decided to take advantage of a neighbor's generosity instead knowing there was an uninsured vehicle in the same area as a heavy plow. There's a risk to letting someone help you and it just isn't right to expect them to pay for it on top of all the "free" labor over the years.

I had a friend once who helped me move because I didn't want to pay for movers. In the process, he accidentally damaged an expensive piece of furniture. He apologized and felt bad but never in a million years would I ask him to pay for it because he was doing me a favor. And it was my own fault for not wanting to hire professionals in the first place. It's just the risk you take.

This is a question I would have to have the answer to first. Where exactly was your sons car in this situation? Why did he not go out and help supervise the plowing and alert the guy to the fact his car was in the way? Why did he not go out first and clear around the vehicle so it was easily visible or move it? This is definitely a slippery slope pun intended lol
Your son was at fault for a few things, no insurance for this type of accident, had someone come by in a slide on an icy road and slammed into his car and just kept going he would be facing a damaged car since he has no insurance, if he had himself ran into something on a slippery road like a telephone pole he himself would be responsible because he has no insurance.... see the picture here he has not provided for his own coverage at his own discretion, he obviously knew the cost and risk of this.
As to the plow driver who is a very nice neighbor, I am sure he does feel some guilt, he is at fault for the actual damage but we don't know exactly what happened or why. However with out knowing where and why the car was parked it would be difficult to put him at full fault. He could have asked your son to come out and watch his car while he plowed or your son could have gone out and done that and then this would not have happened.
So if the neigbhor pays anything I think it should be very minimal just to help ease his guilt. The car has low value, your son had no insurance, your son parked where the plow has plowed previously, so I think he should take the major responsibility or full responsibility because of those factors.
There is also the fact that your son could have gone out and cleared a path around the vehicles for the driver to have clear view of them. But not knowing the parking situation it leaves some questions unanswered.
The big thing here to me is that your son chose not to cover his car with full coverage that is a big statement not only to how he himself valued the car but of what he knew the risks could be especially if he knew he would not have the out of pocket money to cover any damages should they occur.

I guess I'm assuming several things that are incorrect. That the car was either in the driveway or parked next to the driveway and that the plow in question a snow blower and not a snow plow attached to a truck. Also, just because the son doesn't have full coverage insurance doesn't mean the vehicle is uninsured.

Well, I meant uninsured within these circumstances, as liability-only won't cover any damages to his vehicle at all.

If your son was so proud of this car-he should have had full coverage insurance. Lots of unanswered questions??

Even with full coverage, if the damages exceed the value of the car, it would be totaled.

I've loved a car or two. I'm sorry your DS's 'baby' was injured.

Let's start with the actual, current value of the car -- not some 'potential'. If it does have potential, and he can wait months to sell, your DS can advertise it to collectors. If it's his daily transportation and he can't drive it with the damage, he'll need to either make it drive-able or sell it and buy basic transportation. Either way, he'll soon see what the car is actually worth.

I can see the neighbor paying to help out with repairs to make the car safe to drive, but not expensive 'restoration' based on the idea it could be valuable someday.

I'm also thinking that some guys just love to operate machinery. You'd probably have to argue with this neighbor to stop him from plowing the gal's driveway!

I would let it go. The car is probably only worth maybe $1500-$2000 tops, if that, and after all the neighbor has done throughout the years it's not worth souring a good relationship over.

Everyone here seems to agree that the neighbor is liable, and it's more a question of the "right thing to do." I generally agree, and would not ever be able to allow the neighbor to file a claim against his insurance. Although not this severe, I've been in a similar position. I borrowed a friend's SUV for a week while my vehicle was in the shop. As (bad) luck would have it, a rock either kicked up from a vehicle ahead or fell from a bridge and hit the sunroof of their SUV. It basically shattered the sunroof. When I told them what happened, they insisted it was not my fault and would have their insurance cover the repair. I absolutely refused and said since it broke while in my care, I was responsible. Neither of us would budge, but we ultimately agreed to split the cost of the repair. I would have much rather paid 100% myself, but they would not accept it and said that's just what friends do for one another. Perhaps your son could consider alternatives other than pursuing an insurance claim on the neighbor's policy, such as working out a payment plan or splitting the cost as others have mentioned. Or do as I would do and chalk it up to the cost of not having full coverage and permitting a neighbor to do a job that has inherent risks and the potential to cause damage.

As a PS - I would not be so sure that the neighbor had a policy that covers this type of incident. Homeowners policies usually don't extend coverage to motor vehicles and auto policies usually only cover damages caused by/to the insured vehicle. I don't know from your description if the plow was simply an attachment to a passenger vehicle that would have insurance or if it was a tractor type vehicle that probably does not have insurance. Because insurance companies can be jerks, they may try to find some exclusion to refuse the claim.

One other thought - you don't mention if the neighbor's vehicle or plow was damaged from the accident. Would really be a shame if neighbor, while doing a good deed, had to pay to fix not only your son's car, but also his own vehicle.

Ah, thanks for the clarification, chi83. I had been under the impression that you were meaning that the son had no insurance at all.

I posted this scenario because I thought it was a very interesting dilemma. We all know legally what the answer is but it isn't really a black or white situation. For me personally, I have two answers. If it were me hitting the car regardless that I was doing a good deed, I would absolutely insist on taking care of the damage no matter the cost. I wouldn't take no for an answer. That's just me. On the other hand, if it was my car damaged under the same circumstances, I would absolutely not let the neighbor pay.

What an interesting thread! My own opinion falls with Snidely and Chi. Your son didn't have insurance on his car, the girlfriend apparently doesn't have home owners insurance either. She gladly took advantage of the neighbor's good deeds without a thought to any potential problem that might arise - what if he had been injured on her property due to some negligence on her part? She allowed him onto her property knowing neither she nor your son were insured. Personally, I wouldn't ask the neighbor for a dime. I would consider it my fault for not paying for the insurance. It's a sad lesson to learn, but insurance is there for a reason.

Not sure her homeowners insurance would cover his car-that was damaged by a neighbor. And no one said the girlfriend doesn't have insurance.